Media Playershttp://www.maximumpc.com/taxonomy/term/44/
enHow to Get the Most Out of VLC Media Playerhttp://www.maximumpc.com/how_get_most_out_vlc_media_player_2014
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u154280/vlc.png" alt="VLC" title="VLC" width="150" height="140" style="float: right;" /></p>
<h3>A few awesome VLC tricks you may not know about</h3>
<p>For most video-watching aficionados, VLC is an essential piece of software. The open-source app is well known for being a fantastic movie and music player, but there are a few clever tricks that can help you get a lot more out of the media player. We gathered seven fun and useful VLC features, that will help you get the most out of the media player.</p>
<h3>Taking a screenshot:</h3>
<p>You can take a screenshot with VLC by right clicking on the movie you are watching, then go to the <strong>Video </strong>Tab, at the bottom of the menu will be a <strong>Take Snapshot</strong> button, which you can click to take a shot of your current screen.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/take_a_snapshot.png" alt="Taking a screenshot" title="Taking a screenshot" width="600" /></p>
<p>By default, the screen cap will be saved to your My Documents' Pictures library.</p>
<h3>Re-skin VLC to make it look more modern:</h3>
<p>VLC is a great media player, arguably the best, but why not spice up its looks a little with some skins? Here's how you can re-skin VLC.</p>
<p><strong>Step 1:</strong>&nbsp;Click on the <strong>Tools</strong> tab, then click on <strong>Preferences</strong>.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/step_1_8.png" alt="Reskinning VLC Step 1" title="Reskinning VLC Step 1" width="600" height="411" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Once you click on the <strong>Preferences </strong>tab, this window will show up. Click on the "use custom skin" button then the VLC skins website hyperlink to go to the download page for getting custom VLC skins.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/putting_a_custom_skin_on_vlc.png" alt="Reskinning VLC Step 3" title="Reskinning VLC Step 3" width="600" height="497" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 3:</strong> This is what the website should look like. We decided to download all the skins at once by clicking on the <strong>Download all the skins here </strong>hyperlink (It is a 37MB file).&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/downloading_skins.png" alt="Reskinning VLC Step 2" title="Reskinning VLC Step 2" width="600" height="649" style="text-align: center;" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 4:</strong>&nbsp;After you download the skins and unzip them, choose which skin you want by clicking on the Choose… button. After you do this, click save and restart VLC.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/after_youve_unzipped_the_skins_select_which_one_you_want_to_use_by_clicking_thechoose_button_then_click_save.png" alt="Reskinning VLC Step 4" title="Reskinning VLC Step 4" width="600" height="543" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 5:</strong> You will need to restart VLC to load your new skin. Once you’ve re-launched it, the software should look like the skin you chose to change it too.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/a_reskinned_vlc_media_player.png" alt="Reskinning VLC Step 5" title="Reskinning VLC Step 5" width="600" height="401" /></p>
<h3>Set your movie as your wallpaper:</h3>
<p>This feature might not be particularly useful, but there aren't many media players which let you use a running movie as your desktop background.&nbsp;</p>
<p>To set your movie as your wallpaper, right click on the movie and then go to the <strong>Video </strong>tab and click on <strong>Set as Wallpaper</strong>.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/set_your_movie_as_your_wall_paper.png" alt="Setting a movie as your wallpaper Step 1" title="Setting a movie as your wallpaper Step 1" width="600" height="362" style="text-align: center;" /></p>
<p><strong>The end result will look something like this:&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/vlc_wallpaper.jpg" alt="VLC wallpaper Step 2" title="VLC wallpaper Step 2" width="600" height="340" /></p>
<h3>Rip a movie:</h3>
<p>Want to rip a movie so that you can play your DVD media on other devices? Here's how you can do it:</p>
<p><strong>Step 1:</strong> First click on Media, then click on <strong>Convert/Save…</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><img src="/files/u154280/vlc_ripping_content.png" alt="Ripping discs Step 1" title="Ripping discs Step 1" width="600" height="448" /></strong></p>
<p><strong>Step 2:</strong> This window will show up next. Click on the <strong>Disc</strong> tab, then click on <strong>Convert/Save</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/click_on_this_disk_tab_to_move_onto_the_ripping_page.png" alt="Ripping discs Step 2" title="Ripping discs Step 2" width="600" height="444" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 3:</strong>&nbsp;This window will appear next, and you can start ripping the movie by clicking on the Start button. The Profile menu will let you select the video output file location you would like the video to be ripped to. If you wish to change where the file is saved to, click on the Browse bar.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/click_start_to_begin_the_ripping_process_3.png" alt="Ripping discs Step 3" title="Ripping discs Step 3" width="600" height="445" /></p>
<h3>Play a movie in ASCII mode:</h3>
<p>Have a desire to play your video file in those funny retro ASCII characters for whatever reason? Well, there just happens to be an ASCII mode! Here’s how you enable it:</p>
<p><strong>Step 1:</strong> First click on the <strong>Tools </strong>tab and then click on <strong>Preferences</strong>.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/ascii_video_output.png" alt="ASCII Step 1" title="ASCII Step 1" width="600" height="411" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 2:</strong> In the Preferences menu click on <strong>Video</strong>, then click on the <strong>Output Selection</strong> drop-down menu and select <strong>Color ASCII</strong> art video output. Once you’ve selected this, click the <strong>Start </strong>button to save the selection.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/ascii_step_2.png" alt="ASCII Step 2" title="ASCII Step 2" width="600" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 3:</strong> Re-launch VLC for the changes to take effect and play a movie. The movie will look like the two images below.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/ascii_in_action.png" alt="ASCII Image 1" title="ASCII Image 1" width="600" height="435" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>ASCII: Image&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h3>Download Podcasts using VLC's Playlist Manager:</h3>
<p>Did you know that you can use VLC's playlist manager as an RSS Feeder to download your favorite podcasts? Here's how you can do it!</p>
<p><strong>Step 1:</strong> Click on the <strong>View </strong>tab and then click on <strong>Playlist</strong>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/podcast_subscriber_step_1.png" alt="Downloading Podcasts Step 1" title="Downloading Podcasts Step 2" width="600" height="502" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Scroll down the playlist menu and click on the<strong> + button</strong> to add a podcast to VLC media player.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/step_2_6.png" alt="Download Podcasts Step 2" title="Download Podcasts Step 2" width="600" height="410" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 3:</strong> Copy in the URL to the podcast’s RSS Feeder, then click <strong>OK</strong>. For reference, Maximum PC’s RSS Feeder URL is <a title="Maximum PC Podcast RSS Feed" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/maximumpc/1337" target="_blank">http://feeds.feedburner.com/maximumpc/1337</a>&nbsp;*wink*.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/copy_in_your_podcasts_rss_feed_link_step_3.png" alt="Download Podcasts Step 3" title="Download Podcasts Step 3" width="600" height="401" style="text-align: center;" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 4:</strong> The podcast will then show up in VLC like this, and you can begin downloading your favorite podcast episodes.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/the_podcast_will_then_show_up_in_your_podcast_tab_and_you_start_downloading_your_favorite_casters.png" alt="Downloading Podcasts Step 4" title="Downloading Podcasts Step 4" width="617" height="411" /></p>
<h3>Convert Music and Video files to different file types:</h3>
<p><strong>Step 1:</strong> Click on the Media tab and click on <strong>Convert / Save…</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/step_1_converting_audio_file_types.png" alt="Converting Media Step 1" title="Converting Media Step 1" width="600" height="541" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 2:</strong> Click on the <strong>Add…</strong> button and select which media file you would like to convert. At the bottom of the page select <strong>Convert </strong>from the drop-down located at the bottom of the window.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/step_2_click_on_add.._then_click_on_click_save_and_select_convert.png" alt="Converting Media Step 2" title="Converting Media Step 2" width="600" height="541" /></p>
<p><strong>Step 3:</strong> This window will now show up. Under the profile section you can choose what file type you’d like to convert your audio or video file to. Once you have your desired format, click on the <strong>Start </strong>button and the conversion process will begin.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u154280/step_3_select_the_profile_you_want_to_convert_the_media_file_to_then_click_start_to_begin_the_conversion_process.png" alt="Converting Media Step 3" title="Converting Media Step 3" width="621" height="552" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Well, that about wraps up our VLC guide. Know of any other useful features in VLC? Let us know in the comments below!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Follow Chris on&nbsp;</span><a style="font-style: normal;" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/117154316323139826718" target="_blank">Google</a><span style="font-style: normal;">+&nbsp;or&nbsp;</span><a style="font-style: normal;" href="https://twitter.com/chriszele" target="_blank">Twitter</a></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/how_get_most_out_vlc_media_player_2014#commentsasciIIbestMedia Playerpodcastsrip a moviescreenshotskintipsvlcNewsMedia PlayersFeaturesThu, 15 May 2014 17:32:09 +0000Chris Zele27726 at http://www.maximumpc.comZotac ZBox Nano XS AD11 Plus Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/zotac_zbox_nano_xs_ad11_plus_review1
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Small just got smaller</h3>
<p>The biggest thing about Zotac’s new <strong>ZBox Nano XS AD11</strong> Plus may in fact be its name. This new mini PC is so small, it makes the diminutive ZBox Nano AD10 look positively fat in comparison.</p>
<p>Hell, the only commercial mini PC we’ve seen that’s smaller is the Apple TV, which is about the same width and depth but a quarter-inch thinner. The Apple TV is ARM-based, though, and more in the class of a typical HTPC streaming device. The AD11, with its AMD E-450 APU and 64GB SSD is a full-on PC. While streaming boxes such as WD’s Live have come a long way in capability, it’s tough to beat a PC’s ability to go anywhere you want. From streaming sites that are restricted by cable providers to not-safe-for-work content, an HTPC streaming PC trumps all others if you’re willing to live with a mouse and keyboard controls.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u152332/zotac_showcase704_copy_small.jpg" width="620" height="615" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Zotac’s ZBox Nano XS AD11 Plus is the smallest commercial PC we’ve ever tested.</strong></p>
<p>The ZBox Nano XS AD11 Plus has two parts that can be swapped: the 64GB mSATA drive and a single 2GB DDR3/1333 SO-DIMM (both of which are easily accessible). Performance of the new AMD E-450 was surprisingly good in our tests. The APU’s main new feature is a slight speed bump to its dual CPU cores and higher Turbo clocks for the Radeon HD 6320 core. In short, the Nano XS AD11 has enough oomph to let us watch streaming HD content on the major streaming services and it could almost tackle that turd known as QuickTime, playing a 1080p trailer from the local drive without dropping frames. For what it’s worth, the file plays just fine from Windows Media Player.</p>
<p>Our only negative experience with the AD11 was getting all of the drivers installed. You shouldn’t have to play Where’s Waldo to accomplish this task, but we had to. There’s also a tad bit of fan whine under heavier loads and the USB Wi-Fi fan dongle is uninspired but practical. That doesn’t erase the pluses, though. The AD11 is impressively small and capable for what it is.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/zotac_zbox_nano_xs_ad11_plus_review1#commentsHardwareHardwarehtpcmaximum pcMedia PlayerReviewsmallZotac ZBox Nano XS AD11 PlusMedia PlayersAugustReviewsSystemsThu, 27 Sep 2012 11:22:07 +0000Gordon Mah Ung24236 at http://www.maximumpc.comOptoma HD33 Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/optoma_hd33_review
<!--paging_filter--><p style="text-align: left;">At first glance, Optoma’s DLP-based HD33 struck us as the Charlie Brown of this batch. While it was the first 3D video projector in this price range to reach the market, it delivers only 1,800 ANSI lumens of brightness, its zoom lens is limited to 1.2x, and you must buy the 3D glasses separately. Like the Epson, the HD33 doesn’t have a lens-shift feature, but it is the least-expensive model we looked at, and its image quality is at least as good as the other two.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The HD33 comes with an RF emitter for synchronizing 3D glasses, but the emitter is a stand-alone device that must be plugged into a VESA 3D port at the back of the projector. Optoma helpfully provides a bit of two-way tape so you can glue it to the projector housing, but it’s a tacky (no pun intended) solution at best. The glasses Optoma sent for this review (not included in the price of the projector) were considerably dorkier looking and less comfortable to wear than the glasses Acer and Epson provided. Optoma’s glasses are also unique in that they use a rechargeable battery, but that comes with a downside: You recharge them using a Micro USB cable and an AC adapter, which is also not included (although you could plug them into your PC). Alternatively, you can use any manufacturer’s DLP Link 3D-compatible glasses. You can expect to pay about $100 per pair for active 3D glasses of any type.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://stg.maximumpc.com/files/u140850/hd33-300dpi_small.jpg" width="620" height="373" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Optoma’s HD33 performs well and is aggressively priced, but you’ll need to provide your own 3D glasses.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The HD33’s low lumen rating means it’s not a good choice for rooms where you can’t control ambient light. In rooms where you can, however, that rating doesn’t impact its 3D performance as much as you would think. That’s because the HD33 delivers better contrast in 3D than either the Epson or the Acer. The HD33 produced great color, strong black levels, and very good shadow detail in both 2D and 3D modes. But add $100 to its price tag for one pair of glasses, and its price/performance ratio falls just a little short of both the Acer and Epson models.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/optoma_hd33_review#commentsHardwaremaximummaximumpcOptoma HD33pcprojectionProjectorReviewscreentvMedia PlayersReviewsMon, 28 May 2012 08:37:09 +0000Michael Brown23413 at http://www.maximumpc.comEpson Home Theater 3010 Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/epson_home_theater_3010_review
<!--paging_filter--><p>The best feature of Epson’s Home Theater 3010—a three-chip LCD projector—is its extreme brightness. At 2,200 ANSI lumens, it’s 10 percent brighter than the Acer, and more than 18 percent brighter than the Optoma. Its biggest drawback is the fact that it doesn’t include lens shift, which could make the projector more difficult to set up without having to resort to quality-compromising keystone adjustments.</p>
<p>If you do need to make keystone adjustments, the 3010 renders horizontal adjustments easy and precise. And when you’re running the projector in 3D mode, you’ll definitely appreciate that added brightness, since the tinted active-shutter glasses will block a considerable amount of light from reaching your eyes. The trade-off for all that brightness is a black level that’s slightly worse than the Acer’s. But black remains black, not dark gray, so we think the trade-off is worthwhile.</p>
<p>All three projectors delivered stunning 3D experiences. There’s one scene in the IMAX Blu-ray disc Under the Sea 3D in which a gargantuan potato cod turns to face the camera, and it looked as though the huge fish was protruding eight feet off the screen and right into the middle of our home theater. But only the Epson could accomplish the trick with complete effectiveness in the presence of ambient light from nearby windows.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://stg.maximumpc.com/files/u140850/plhc3010_ho_high_small.jpg" width="620" height="333" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>The center-mounted lens on Epson’s Home Theater 3010, combined with the absence of lens-shift support, could complicate your installation if you’re upgrading from a projector with an offset lens. </em></p>
<p>Epson provides two pairs of LCD active-shutter glasses, and there’s an infrared emitter built into the projector. If that’s not suitable for your installation, you can plug an external IR emitter into an RJ-45 port on the back. The 3010 provides the usual complement of video inputs—two HDMI, VGA, composite, and component—but for an extra $200, the model 3010e adds wireless HDMI (although Epson doesn’t provide any glasses with this model). Integrated stereo speakers are an unusual feature on both models. We don’t imagine anyone would use the speakers with the projector permanently installed in their home theater, but they would come in very handy for backyard movie nights.</p>
<p>The Epson Home Theater 3010 is a great projector. It would be even better with lens shift, but that would likely have rendered it more expensive. If you crave 3D, but have difficulty controlling the ambient light in your home theater, this is the projector to buy.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/epson_home_theater_3010_review#commentsEpson Home Theater 3010HardwaremaximummaximumpcpcprojectionProjectorReviewtvMedia PlayersReviewsMon, 28 May 2012 08:27:15 +0000Michael Brown23412 at http://www.maximumpc.comAcer H9500BD Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/acer_h9500bd_review
<!--paging_filter--><p>Acer’s H9500BD 3D video projector is the most expensive of the three models here, but it has a couple of features the other two lack. Its overall image quality, however, is only on par with projectors in this price range. We’ll leave it up to you to match those considerations to your needs/wants list.</p>
<p>The H9500BD, like Optoma’s HD33, is based on Texas Instrument’s DLP technology. When connected to a PC or Blu-ray 3D player via HDMI, the projector is capable of producing frame-packed 3D video at 1920x1080 resolution at a refresh rate of 24Hz (the same frame rate movies are filmed at). If you want to play games, you’ll need to drop the resolution down to 1280x720, so you can use a 60Hz refresh rate (markedly better for games).</p>
<p>Unless you’ll be the only person watching the projector in 3D mode, though, you should keep in mind that Acer provides only one pair of 3D glasses with the projector; additional pairs of DLP Link 3D glasses cost about $100 each. (Flip over to Lab Notes on page 92 for a longer discussion of what you’ll need to drive any of these projectors with an AMD or Nvidia GPU.)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u152332/acer-h9500_04_small_0.jpg" width="577" height="289" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Acer’s H9500BD uses DLP Link 3D glasses, so there’s no need for an IR or RF emitter to sync the glasses to the projector.</em></p>
<p>Lens shift is one high-end feature the H9500BD boasts that the other two projectors lack. The ability to physically move the lens inside the projector housing makes it easier to place the projector—be it on a table or mounted from the ceiling—without the need for keystone adjustments if you can’t align the projector’s lens perfectly with the screen. Keystone adjustments correct distortion at the top, bottom, or sides of the projected image, but they do so by sacrificing resolution and image detail through compression.</p>
<p>The H9500BD turns on TI’s Brilliant Color, a feature integrated into DLP chips to boost brightness, by default. This produces a color palette that video purists will criticize as overemphasized, but we like the effect. Black levels are surprisingly good, too. Acer’s projector is considerably brighter than Optoma’s, but it’s about 10 percent less bright than Epson’s offering. That difference really comes to the fore when you switch to 3D mode.</p>
<p>This projector looks fantastic in both 2D and 3D; but in 3D mode, the tinted lenses block some of the light reflected from the screen even when their shutters are completely open. Each lens then alternates blocking all light 60 times each second. But if you can darken your room and limit your picture size to 100 inches or less, you should be very happy with this projector.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/acer_h9500bd_review#commentsAcer H9500BDHardwaremaximummaximumpcpcProjectprojectionProjectorReviewscreentvMedia PlayersReviewsMon, 28 May 2012 07:27:39 +0000Michael Brown23406 at http://www.maximumpc.comEverything You Need To Know About Smart TVhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/everything_you_need_know_about_smart_tv
<!--paging_filter--><p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-header-big.jpg" target="_blank"><br /><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-header.jpg" width="602" height="480" /></a></p>
<p>Technology is transforming the humble idiot box into a powerful Internet appliance. Whether you call it “smart TV,” “connected TV,” or “Internet TV,” it has the potential to upend our boob tube experience, letting us watch our favorite shows whenever and wherever we want, and merging TV shows with online content in cunning, clever ways. Smart TV won’t prevent television from rotting your brain (it’s not that smart), but it should empower you to find, and get more from, all the content that’s available.</p>
<p>Hollywood studios and TV networks are finally waking up to the power of the Internet, thanks to pioneering efforts by the likes of Netflix, Hulu, and Vudu. And if you can wait for pay-TV services such as HBO and Showtime to release their original programming on DVD, you can seriously consider ditching your expensive cable or satellite subscription services, too.</p>
<p>In the following pages, we’ll solve all the mysteries of smart TV. We’ll explain every important service and device that falls under the smart TV rubric (omitting only the most obvious players, such as YouTube), and tie everything together into a neat and simple package. It’s time to turn on and tune in.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Online Movie &amp; TV Services</h2>
<p>The Internet has exploded the video‑on‑demand market, wiping out the cable and satellite companies’ monopoly on which shows are available and when. Sure, the websites of the major TV networks let you watch full episodes of their shows (with varying levels of episode availability, advertising, and video quality), but the services in this section add movies to the mix, and generally improve TV video quality and grant access to greater storehouses of content. If you’re looking to cut your monthly bills, here are all the ways you can watch the latest movies and TV shows without a Comcast or DirecTV in your life.</p>
<h3>Amazon Instant Video</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>Amazon.com’s online VOD store lets you rent or purchase TV shows and Hollywood movies. Most rented videos are streamed, although some can be fully downloaded to a TiVo DVR or to Amazon’s Unbox Video Player on a Windows PC. You can also purchase videos on one computer and download them to another, stream videos from your PC to an Xbox 360, or stream them from the web to Amazon's new Kindle Fire. Amazon will store your purchased videos on its servers, too.</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>Amazon claims 90,000 titles in its library. You’ll find Hollywood movies (available as soon as they hit DVD), as well as TV shows from the broadcast and cable networks, including Showtime and HBO (although you’ll have to wait a while for HBO’s programs to show up). Videos are streamed at the highest resolution your Internet connection supports, up to a maximum of 720p with a 3.5Mb/s connection. The minimum supported speed is 450Kb/s.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-amazoninstantvideo-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-amazoninstantvideo.jpg" width="620" height="364" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>Various TVs from Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio; various Blu-ray players from Panasonic and Sony; TiVo DVRs (downloads only, streaming is not supported); Roku media players; Google TV devices; Windows PCs; and the Kindle Fire.</p>
<p>Newly released movies typically cost $3.99 to rent and $14.99 to purchase. Sale prices for older movies typically drop to $9.99 (rental prices remain the same), while some classics can be purchased for $4.99 or less, or rented for $2.99. TV shows are typically sold for $1.99 per episode (with discounts if you purchase entire seasons), but most HBO shows are available only for rental. Amazon doesn’t charge a monthly fee, although subscribers to the company’s Amazon Prime program ($79 per year) can stream (but not download) an unlimited number of movies and videos from a library of about 10,000 titles and TV episodes.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>Amazon offers great prices if you’re interested in buying downloadable movies, and the option to store your purchases on its servers reduces your risk should you suffer an equipment failure at home. The ability to transfer rented movies to portable devices would be a great differentiator if the list of supported devices included anything relevant. Free video rentals is a great new benefit if you’re already an Amazon Prime subscriber, but Amazon’s library is too small to justify signing up for that service solely to get free video streaming.</p>
<h3>Blockbuster On Demand</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>Blockbuster, now owned by Dish Network, offers two online services. Blockbuster on Demand offers streaming VOD rentals and movie downloads for purchase. Dish Network subscribers can opt for Blockbuster Movie Pass, which includes video rentals streamed to a Dish set-top box, plus DVD and Blu-ray disc rentals by mail (limited to one disc being out at any one time).</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>You’ll find VOD versions of movies just released to DVD, as well as a deep library of classic films available in resolutions up to 1080i. The service doesn’t currently offer any TV shows for rental or purchase, but Blockbuster Movie Pass does include Starz programming (which consists of some original series and mini-series, plus movies that have already had their run on premium pay-TV channels such as HBO and Showtime).</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-blockbusterondemand-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-blockbusterondemand.jpg" width="620" height="394" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>Various TVs from Samsung and Vizio; various Blu-ray players from Onkyo, Philips, Samsung, and others; TiVo DVRs; select smartphones and tablets on the AT&amp;T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks; networked media players from Western Digital and 2Wire; and Windows PCs.</p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>Most new releases cost $3.99 to rent, or $19.99 to $21.99 to purchase. You can rent some older movies for as little as $1.99, but the service isn’t competitive when it comes to selling most classics, with titles typically priced at $9.99 each. There is no subscription fee for Blockbuster on Demand. Blockbuster Movie Pass costs $10 per month in addition to your Dish Network subscription.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>Blockbuster on Demand isn't any more or less compelling than any of the other movie-rental services covered here, unless you&nbsp; want to watch movies and TV shows on your handheld device (note, however, that iOS devices—including the iPad—are not supported). If you're already a Dish Network subscriber, on the other hand, Blockbuster Movie Pass is a solid value at $10 per month, especially since Dish doesn't charge extra to rent movies on Blu-ray disc (take that, Netflix!).</p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>CinemaNow</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>Operated by Best Buy and powered by RoxioNow, CinemaNow is another VOD service that offers movies and TV episodes for rental or purchase. Regardless of whether you rent or buy, videos can be streamed for instant viewing, or downloaded and watched later (downloads can be shared between five devices). You can also use your smartphone to purchase content and have it downloaded to your Windows PC. This way, you can purchase a movie while you’re at work, and it will be ready to watch when you get home.</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>You’ll find VOD versions of movies just released on disc, as well as a spotty selection of TV shows from the broadcast and cable networks, including Showtime, but not HBO. New TV episodes—of the select shows actually offered—are generally available the day after they’re broadcast. Videos are streamed at the highest resolution (up to 1080p) that your Internet connection is capable of supporting. CinemaNow requires a minimum connection speed of 1.5Mb/s.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-cinemanow-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-cinemanow.jpg" width="620" height="346" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>Various TVs from LG and Samsung; various Blu-ray players from Insignia (Best Buy’s house brand), LG, Panasonic, and Samsung; Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming console (requires Windows PC connection); Mac or Windows PC (via browser).</p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>Most newly released movies can be rented for $3.99, while older movies rent for $2.99. Purchase prices for films range from $9.99 to $19.95, although most new releases were selling for $15.95 at press time. TV episodes sell for $1.99 each. There are no subscription fees.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>Best Buy offers very good prices for movie purchases, but its prices for movie rentals and TV episode purchases are just meh. We like the ability to buy a movie with a smartphone and have it automatically downloaded to a PC—and it would be great if rentals could be arranged this way, too. For whatever reason, Best Buy has chosen to support far fewer devices than the RoxioNow service is capable of delivering (see Blockbuster On Demand for examples).</p>
<h3>Crackle</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>Crackle describes itself as a multiplatform video entertainment network and studio owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. The service is unique in that it allows you to embed its original programming, "minisodes," full-length television episodes, and feature films.</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>You’ll find full-length feature films and TV episodes, as well as trailers for coming attractions. Sony owns most of this content, including some entirely original programming. Oddly enough, videos default to 360p resolution, which is lower than standard definition (480p). Crackle offers some content at higher resolution, but it tops out at—you guessed it—480p.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-crackle-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-crackle.jpg" width="550" height="401" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>You can stream—but not download—Crackle’s Flash videos to these connected devices: Sony's Bravia TVs; Sony's Internet TV; most Sony Blu-ray players; TiVo DVRs; Sezmi set-top box; Google TV devices, such as the Logitech Revue; Hulu (and all networked media players that support that service); D-Link’s Boxee Box; Roku devices; the Sony PlayStation 3; Verizon FiOS TV; Android devices; mobile devices on the Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks; Apple's iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch; Windows PCs.</p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>Crackle is entirely free, but it is heavily supported by online ads and commercial interruptions. You must be at least 18 years old and register with the site to access R-rated movies.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you’ve probably already seen most of the movies that Crackle has to offer—and without commercial interruptions. The low-res video is another bummer. Some of Crackle’s original content is definitely worth watching, though, especially the female-assassin series Angel of Death. Crackle is a good choice if you enjoy watching videos on your mobile device, too; and it's one of the few services to support the iPad. While we applaud Crackle for enabling its customers to distribute its content relatively freely (through embedding), bear in mind that it’s primarily in the interest of promoting the service.</p>
<h3>Vudu</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>Vudu started life as a movie-download service using a proprietary box with a hard drive. Besides the hardware—and a bevy of deals with movie studios—Vudu's biggest claim to fame was its HDX video-encoding algorithm that enabled it to stream movies in full 1080p resolution. The set-top box eventually fell by the wayside in favor of streaming movies to devices such as Blu-ray players. That removed a significant barrier for consumers, but it wasn't enough to keep the company independent—it was acquired by WalMart in early 2010.</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>Vudu offers Hollywood movies (and Showtime TV episodes) for rental and sale, typically the same day they become available on disc. Videos are streamed at the highest resolution your Internet connection can support, with standard-definition (480p) video requiring a minimum download speed of 1–2Mb/s. Vudu offers two high-definition streams: HD (720p), which requires a minimum download speed of 2.25–4.5Mb/s, and HDX (1080p with Dolby Digital Plus 7.1-channel sound), which requires a very fat pipe that can deliver between 4.5- and 9Mb/s. This is also the only service that supports 3D video streaming.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-vudu-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-vudu.jpg" width="620" height="372" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>Most newer Blu-ray players, HDTVs, and home-theater-in-a-box systems; a number of networked media players, including D-Link's Boxee Box, Netgear's NeoTV, and Roku devices; Sony's PlayStation 3; Apple's iPad; and Windows PCs.</p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>New releases cost $3.99, $4.99, or $5.99 to rent (for SD, HD, and HDX, respectively). Vudu sells most new releases for $14.99 (in SD) or $19.99 (in HD or HDX). Older movies rent for $2 for two nights, with a limited number of movies renting for just 99 cents.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>Who'd have guessed that WalMart would come to offer one of the best online video-rental services on the market? Vudu is at least as good as Amazon Instant Video, and it supports far more hardware platforms than iTunes; Netflix' movie offerings are downright stagnant in comparison. If WalMart wants to make the service even more compelling—and more profitable—it should enable customers without super-fast broadband connections to download movie rentals in HDX (like the original Vudu box did).</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Hulu &amp; Hulu Plus</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>Hulu is a content aggregator offering on-demand TV shows and movies from most of the major networks and movie studios. Hulu is the name of the free service, while Hulu Plus offers more features and is subscription based. Major players that own stakes in Hulu include NBC Universal (now merged with Comcast), News Corporation (owner of the Fox network), and Walt Disney Corporation (owner of ABC). CBS (which also owns Showtime and more) is the only major TV network that doesn’t own a piece of Hulu.</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>Most of Hulu’s content consists of TV episodes, news programming, and a handful of feature films produced by the three major concerns with ownership stakes. TV shows typically appear the day after they’re broadcast, and all this content is supported by advertisements, even if you spring for a Hulu Plus subscription.</p>
<p>So what do you get if you subscribe? Higher-resolution video, for starters. Hulu content is streamed in “standard definition” (a term Hulu doesn’t define), while Hulu Plus video streams in “high definition” (720p). And while basic Hulu is available only on a computer, Hulu Plus can be streamed to an increasingly wide range of devices. Also, basic Hulu delivers only the five most recent episodes of available TV series, whereas you get entire seasons on Hulu Plus.</p>
<p>Movies generally aren’t one of Hulu’s strengths, but cineastes will revel in the Criterion Collection of films available on Hulu Plus. Criterion is renowned for both the impeccable quality of its film-to-video digital transfers and its supplemental material, including deleted scenes, audio commentaries, and more. This supplemental material isn’t currently available on Hulu Plus, but it’s slated to be included in the future.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-hulu-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-hulu.jpg" width="620" height="363" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>Hulu is available on Windows PCs, but you must be connected to the Internet to watch, and you can’t download and store videos on your machine. Hulu Plus has the same restrictions, but can be streamed to a variety of TVs from Samsung, Sony, and Vizio; various Blu-ray players from Samsung, Sony, and Vizio; TiVo Premiere DVRs; Android smartphones and tablets; networked media players, Roku and Western Digital networked media players; Sony’s Dash and Netbox; Sony's PlayStation 3, Nintendo's Wii, and Microsoft's Xbox 360; iOS devices; and—coming soon—Nintendo's 3DS handheld gaming system.</p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>Hulu is free. Hulu Plus costs $7.99 monthly. Videos on both services contain commercial advertising, and you’ll need to register for whichever service you decide to use.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>We loathe commercials, but they’re a reasonable trade-off for getting triple-A content for free. But having to pay for content and still be forced to watch commercials is something else. Hulu’s free iteration delivers most of what you’ll get on broadcast and subscription TV, so it could well satisfy your needs—provided you don’t mind watching standard-def video on a computer and don’t fall too far behind in a TV series season.</p>
<p>Hulu Plus offers a lot more content, and it’s available on a host of devices that will connect directly to your TV. If you’re looking to cut your ties to a pay TV service, it’s definitely worth $7.99 per month—even with the commercials. Aside from the excellent Criterion Collection, however, Hulu Plus can’t compete with the Netflix movie library.</p>
<h3>iTunes Store</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>Available for both Mac and PC, Apple’s free iTunes application lets you play, organize, and purchase digital music and video. You can also use iTunes to transfer your video purchases to an iPod, iPad, or iPhone, or stream that content to all these devices, as well as to the Apple TV media player. Whereas iTunes music downloads can only be purchased, movies, and TV show episodes can be either purchased or rented.</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>Apple’s media store offers a comprehensive collection of Hollywood movies, plus TV shows from the major broadcast and cable networks, including Showtime and HBO. Many of the films include what Apple calls iTunes Extras: deleted scenes, making-of documentaries, music videos, and so on. Just be aware that iTunes Extras are viewable only on a computer or via Apple TV.</p>
<p>Most movies and TV episodes are available in either standard or HD (480p and 720p, respectively). Unlike most of the other services discussed here, you can download both rented and purchased content to your computer or Apple device. You must watch rented movies and TV shows within 30 days of downloading. Additionally, you must finish watching a rented movie within 24 hours of clicking the Play button. You have 48 hours to finish watching rented TV shows.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-itunes-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-itunes.jpg" width="620" height="274" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>A TV connected to an Apple TV media player; most iPod models (HD content will require an iPod Touch); iOS devices (HD content will require iPhone 4); Mac or Windows PC (via the iTunes software).</p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>To rent newly released movies, you’re typically looking at $3.99 for standard-def, and $4.99 for HD. To buy that same content, you’ll usually pay $14.99 and $19.99, respectively. Most TV shows sell for $1.99 for standard-def and $2.99 for HD.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>If Apple had its way, you’d only be able to watch iTunes content on Apple products. The company’s almost there now, supporting Windows only because of its huge, dominating installed base. Fortunately, you'll find other video-on-demand services delivering the same content on a wide variety of platforms, including the PC, Android, and iOS. We see very little reason to patronize iTunes these days for anything other than music (and we can recommend plenty of alternatives on that score, too).</p>
<h3>Netflix</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>Netflix started out renting DVDs by mail, but now emphasizes its subscription-based video-streaming service over renting physical discs. As a Netflix subscriber, you can stream as many movies and TV episodes as you like, but you can't download the videos to any device.</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>You'll find Hollywood movies, TV episodes from broadcast and cable networks (including Showtime but not HBO), and original movies and TV series carried on the Starz cable network. Netflix boasts a high-quality back catalog of streaming content, but it takes a long time for new movies to become available for streaming, and TV episodes generally don't become available until after their seasons have been released on disc. Videos are streamed at the highest resolution your Internet connection can deliver, up to a maximum of 720p.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-netflix-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-netflix.jpg" width="620" height="389" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>Various HDTVs from LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio; various Blu-ray disc players from LG, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, and others; TiVo DVRs; most media players, including the Apple TV, Boxee Box, Google TV, Roku, and WD TV Live; PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and Xbox 360; iOS devices (via an app); Mac or Windows PCs (via web browser).</p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>A Netflix “Watch Instantly” account costs a minimum of $7.99 per month. This baseline plan doesn’t include any physical disc rentals, but it also places no limit on the number of videos you can stream. Of course, Netflix continues to offer plans that include physical disc rentals, and each throws in unlimited streaming as a value-added service.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>Netflix' $7.99 streaming-only plan is a great deal if you don't mind very long waits for newer movies and TV episodes to make their way onto the service. In an effort to appease Hollywood, which apparently fears that Netflix will dominate the post-theater retail movie business in the same way that Apple has come to dominate the music distribution market, Netflix cut deals with most of the studios to not rent new movies on disc until they've been available at retail for 28 days. New movies and current television episodes take much, much longer to make their way to Netflix' streaming service. Meanwhile, pay-per-view services such as Vudu offer new movies online the very same day they're released on disc. Regardless, we still recommend Netflix' streaming-only subscriptions for movies, but we think Hulu Plus delivers a far better experience for TV junkies.</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Yahoo Connected TV</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>Yahoo Connected TV is an umbrella term for Yahoo’s smart TV initiative. It’s similar to Google TV in that it’s a platform that seeks to integrate the TV-viewing experience with the Internet, but Yahoo’s effort is smaller and more targeted. Indeed, while Google TV attempts to aggregate content from virtually every venue where video is available, Yahoo Connected TV is more of a framework for third-party widgets that leverage live TV and various VOD sources, and bring popular online social media services to your TV.</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>Widgets from Amazon Instant Video and Blockbuster On Demand enable you to rent and stream movies and TV episodes. Other widgets deliver video content available only on the web, such as Internet TV shows from Revision3. You can also hook into Facebook and Twitter, share digital photos using Flickr, and buy and sell goods on eBay. You’ll also find widgets for weather reports, casual games, and stock tickers.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-yahooconnectedtv-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-yahooconnectedtv.jpg" width="620" height="349" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>As we went to press, the only devices to support Yahoo Connected TV were a handful of TV models from LG, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and Vizio. D-Link has demoed a set-top box that you can plug into any TV, but the product wasn’t shipping at press time.</p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>Incremental costs are probably folded into the prices of TVs that support Yahoo Connected TV, but there is no direct cost to the consumer. That said, some of the content widgets cost money and are sold through an app store, but these are entirely optional. And, of course, if you use pay-as-you-go services such as Amazon Instant Video, you’ll have to pony up for those, as well.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>The technology behind Yahoo Connected TV isn’t nearly as disruptive as the tech behind Google TV, and maybe that's why it seems to be enjoying a bit more early success. We’d rather play games on our computers or tablets than on our TVs, but there are plenty of other worthwhile widgets in the service’s universe. For example, it’s much more fun to share Flickr photos on a big TV screen than to huddle around a PC—and this is another reason why we think an HDTV’s visual quality is so important.</p>
<h3>MLB.TV</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>This service, owned by Major League Baseball, points to the future of smart TV sports coverage. Leveraging a sport with lots of teams, a very long season, and an obsession with stats, MLB.TV is a baseball fanatic's interactive dream.</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>You can watch any regular-season game that’s available in your market in 720p resolution. Games, however, are subject to local-market blackout restrictions. If your game is blacked out, you can’t view it until 90 minutes after the final pitch.</p>
<p>You get in-game highlights, stats, and alternate audio options (you can choose between the home or away team’s audio feed, for instance). A widget tracks the pitcher’s performance in a video overlay, and you can replay any player’s at-bat on demand. A fantasy league tracker alerts you when players you’ve drafted are on-deck, so you can switch to their at-bats via a picture-in-picture.</p>
<p>A premium package adds the ability to watch either the home or away team’s video feed. This package also includes a multi-game mode that lets you watch up to four in-market games simultaneously (using either picture-in-picture or split-screen).</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-mlbtv.jpg" width="620" height="281" /></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>Various HDTVs from LG and Samsung; various Blu-ray players from LG and Samsung; Roku networked media players; Boxee devices (including the D-Link Boxee Box); Apple TV; Sony PlayStation 3; and Android and iOS devices. Note: Not every feature is available on every device.</p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>MLB.TV costs $19.99 monthly or $99.99 yearly. MLB.TV Premium is $24.99 or $119.99, respectively. One subscription can be activated on multiple devices, but you’ll need to purchase and install Major League Baseball’s At Bat 11 app ($14.99 per device) to use the service with mobile devices.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>Major League Baseball understands what its fans want, and it knows how to leverage the smart TV concept to bring them a great interactive experience—either on the TV or on a second, supplemental screen. Only hardcore fans will be willing to pay the steep entry fees, but there are plenty of those out there.</p>
<h3>Google TV</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>Google TV is an open hardware and software platform designed to combine the power of the Internet with compelling video content—from Hollywood movies and TV shows, to YouTube clips and other viral fare, to personal content on your local network. Think of it as an electronic program guide that lists not only the content that's available on TV right now and in the coming weeks, but also what's available for streaming over the Internet. On top of that, using a picture-in-picture window or video overlay, Google TV can present real-time information about whatever you happen to be watching: player stats if you're watching a game, actor profiles if you're watching a movie, and so on.</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>Google’s smart TV technology can deliver any content located on your home network, anything on live TV, anything recorded on your Dish Network set-top box, and virtually any content available on the Internet—just as long as the content owner doesn’t object. Right now, however, all the major television networks vigorously object and are blocking Google TV from presenting their online content. And because the networks own a chunk of Hulu, Google TV can’t deliver that, either.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-googletv-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-googletv.jpg" width="620" height="349" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>Sony's Internet TV, Sony's Internet TV Blu-ray player, Dish Network's set-top box, and Logitech's Revue set-top box.</p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>Google TV is only available integrated into another product. It’s not sold as an app, so you can’t run it on a PC. While there are no subscription fees, Dish Network will tack a $4 "DVR integration" fee onto your monthly bill if you connect the service to its set-top box.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>Google set out to change the way we watch TV, combining the power of Internet search with TV content. But the initiative crashed head-on into entrenched interests that fear Google will interrupt their advertising revenue streams. It's too soon to say if the latest version of Google TV will make the service any more worth having, but we do know you still can't get Hulu or other online content owned by the major broadcast and pay-TV networks with it.</p>
<h3>NBA League Pass</h3>
<p><strong>What Is It?</strong></p>
<p>NBA League Pass Broadband and NBA League Pass Mobile allow you to stream regular-season NBA games to your PC or mobile device. In addition to being able to watch games that might not be broadcast in your area, you also get real-time stats and other features. This service is co-owned by the NBA and Turner Sports Interactive, and games are subject to the same blackout restrictions that you’ll encounter with normal TV broadcasts.</p>
<p><strong>What's Available?</strong></p>
<p>The Broadband package lets you watch as many as 40 regular-season games per week, including up to three games at the same time. Games available in high-def are streamed in an unspecified level of HD to your device, with live stats overlaid on top of the video. A DVR function allows you to produce your own instant replays, and you have access to a full season's worth of archives (on-demand replays are available 48 hours after they've been played). The Mobile package allows you to watch up to 40 games per week on your iOS or Android device.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-nbaleaguepass-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-nbaleaguepass.jpg" width="620" height="349" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Devices with Support Built In</strong></p>
<p>This service is available on a Mac or Windows PC, Roku devices, as well as iPod, iPhone, and Android devices (via apps). There is also limited support for Apple TV.</p>
<p><strong>Pricing</strong></p>
<p>An NBA League Pass Broadband subscription is included in the purchase of an NBA League Pass TV subscription (prices vary per cable or satellite provider). If you’re not paying for the TV channel, however, you can opt for a Broadband “Choice” subscription (which allows you to follow up to seven teams) for $24.99 per season. To follow all 30 NBA teams, you’ll need to pay $49.95 per season for the “Premium” subscription. NBA League Pass Mobile subscriptions cost $16.99 per season.</p>
<p><strong>Our Take</strong></p>
<p>The NBA is off to a good start, but pro basketball could take a few lessons from Major League Baseball: The full version of NBA League Pass should be available as a widget in connected TVs and set-top boxes (only NBA Game Time Lite is available on those devices today). Regardless, both the NBA and MLB are way ahead of the NFL, which doesn’t offer interactive squat.</p>
<hr />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Smart TV Hardware Essentials</h2>
<h3>Here's everything you'll need to indulge your interest in Smart TV. Surprise! It's not really all that much.</h3>
<p><strong>Broadband Internet Access:</strong> Dial-up access isn’t going to cut it. City and suburb dwellers should look into cable modems and DSL. Folks living in rural areas where those services aren't available should check into wireless solutions, such as WiMax. Satellite service is another alternative, although it’s relatively slow and can be very expensive.</p>
<p><strong>A Display:</strong> You don’t necessarily need a TV to get smart TV; you can just as easily use the display connected to your desktop or notebook computer. TVs, on the other hand, typically offer bigger screens, and you can connect your existing unit to whichever smart TV hardware you’re using to pull content from the Internet. Newer TVs make all this easier, thanks to their built-in apps and Ethernet support.</p>
<p><strong>A Networked Media Player:</strong> If you don’t have a TV with built-in smart TV apps, you’ll need something from this category, which includes devices such as Western Digital's WD TV Live, Netgear's Neo TV, D-Link's Boxee Box, or one of the Roku devices. Most Blu-ray players and home-theater-in-a-box systems include smart TV apps, too. The best solution, of course, is to buy a PC that can be incorporated into your home entertainment system.</p>
<h2>Connected TVs &amp; Set-Top Boxes</h2>
<p>Did you find one of the video-on-demand or interactive TV services on the preceding pages to your liking? Now it’s time to delve deeper into the hardware that&nbsp; might support the particular iteration of smart TV that suits your fancy. Here are our choices, ranked from least appealing to most compelling. See the next page for our top recommendation: a home theater PC.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-boxeebox-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-boxeebox.jpg" width="500" height="338" /></a><br /><strong>If you don't want to invest in a full-blown home-theater PC, we think D-Link's oddly shaped Boxee Box is the next best alternative.</strong></p>
<h3>HDTV</h3>
<p>You might think the best way to get smart TV is to buy, well, a smart TV. Think again! Don't toss your current TV if the only thing it's lacking is smart TV features—we'll show you plenty of cheaper—and in some cases, better—alternatives. If, on the other hand, you've been longing to upgrade to a bigger screen, or if you want to move up from LCD to plasma, or to a model that supports 3D, smart TV features will most likely be included. Don't fret about which services are included, though; concentrate on image quality, instead.</p>
<h3>Logitech Revue (Google TV)</h3>
<p>If you really want the Google TV experience, Logitech is blowing out its Revue inventory—we've seen it selling online for as little as $100 (it hit the market at $299). Logitech CEO Guerrino De Luca recently told analysts that the decision to support Google TV, which he described as a "beta product," cost the company $100 million in operating profit. De Luca says the company has no immediate plans to produce a Revue 2. Ouch.</p>
<h3>Apple TV</h3>
<p>Even hardcore Apple fans were disappointed with the Apple TV set-top box when it was first introduced. The device was capable of streaming content from only four online services—Netflix, YouTube, MobileMe, and Flickr—but has since added support for MLB.TV and NBA League Pass Broadband. We suspect Apple's real aspirations for Apple TV are focused on making the box a conduit for watching movies and TV episodes rented or purchased from iTunes. Apple TV sells for $99, but you'll find plenty of better products for the same price or less.</p>
<h3>Videogame Consoles</h3>
<p>Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii, and Sony's PlayStation 3 gaming consoles all have Internet connectivity, and all are capable of delivering various smart TV elements, including Netflix. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 tend to be more smart TV-oriented than the Wii, and the Xbox 360 is even stronger, because it can use your PC as a bridge to connect to online services. You can also play games on these devices, of course, but isn't that what you bought your PC for?</p>
<h3>Blu-ray Disc Players</h3>
<p>As with new HDTVs, just about any new Blu-ray disc player on the market will include a variety of smart TV features. We love Blu-ray as much for its high-definition audio as its HD video, but we think a home-theater PC makes the best Blu-ray player. Still, most people don't have the budget to put one of those in every room. Netflix support is common, but Vudu support is better if you're interested in renting the latest movies in HD. Prices start at less than $100, but features such as integrated Wi-Fi, multiple HDMI outputs, and SACD and DVD-Audio support will rapidly inflate the MSRP.</p>
<h3>Roku</h3>
<p>Roku manufactured the very first Netflix streaming box, but the company has expanded significantly since then and now offers four models ranging in price from $50 to $100. Even the least expensive model, the LT, includes an integrated Wi-Fi adapter, 720p video resolution, and more than 350 content channels. A lot of that content is crap, however, and only the top-end product will stream your own content (albeit only from a USB storage device).</p>
<h3>Netgear Neo TV NTV200</h3>
<p>We like Netgear's streamer just a little bit more than Roku's lineup, almost exclusively because it supports Vudu. It can't stream content you own, but it does have an integrated Wi-Fi adapter and it does deliver video resolution up to 1080p. And it only costs $80.</p>
<h3>Western Digital WD TV Live</h3>
<p>Western Digital practically owns the networked media-streamer market, thanks to its exceptional WD TV Live product. It supports nearly every important online media service (with the notable exception of Vudu), it will stream all your own content from any network or USB source at video resolutions up to 1080p, it supports every important media codec and container format, it has an integrated Wi-Fi adapter, and it costs just $130.</p>
<h3>D-Link Boxee Box</h3>
<p>If you're looking for just a little more than what the WD TV Live can do (Vudu support, the ability to send web videos to the Boxee&nbsp; Box from a web browser, and—coming soon—an optional USB TV tuner), then you should take a hard look at D-Link's Boxee Box. It's priced higher than the Roku, Netgear, and Western Digital products ($180), but the price bump is fully justified by its extensive feature list.</p>
<h2>Home Theater PCs</h2>
<p>Looking for the ultimate smart TV experience? Pick up a home-theater PC. You can subscribe to any online service your heart desires, stream your own content, and lots more. In fact, these machines can do almost anything a desktop PC can do. Here's a quick look at five classes of HTPC.</p>
<h3>All-In-One PC</h3>
<p>An all-in-one PC is a great solution if you're looking for an entertainment system for your kitchen, bedroom, den, or even your garage. This class of machine integrates an entire desktop computer, display, and speakers inside a chassis that's only slightly thicker than the typical monitor.</p>
<p>These machines come with everything you need, including an integrated Wi-Fi adapter, a wireless mouse and keyboard, and a TV tuner. Add an aftermarket USB CableCARD product, such as Ceton's InfiniTV4, and you can watch and record digital cable TV programming—including premium channels such as HBO.</p>
<p>Prices vary according to the size of the display, but models boasting large monitors typically also deliver faster CPUs, larger hard drives, and more features overall. Many higher-end models, such as <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/hp_touchsmart_610_review" target="_blank">HP's TouchSmart 610</a>, include an HDMI input, so you can use the display with a game console, set-top box, or other video source. Machines in this price range also typically include an integrated Blu-ray drive, which is useful for watching rented Blu-ray movies (we recommend ripping purchased movies and storing them on a central server).</p>
<p>The obvious downside to buying an all-in-one machine is that it will be almost impossible to upgrade it down the road.</p>
<h3>Velcro PC</h3>
<p>We coined this term to describe a personal computer that's small enough to be attached to the back of a display using that famously sticky fabric (you can read our review of <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/zotac_zbox_nano_ad10_plus_review" target="_blank">Zotac's ZBox Nano AD10 Plus</a>). Such machines often do not include an optical drive, but they can stream just about any video from a network server or from any of the online media services we've mentioned.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-zotaczbox-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-zotaczbox.jpg" width="620" height="385" /></a><br /><strong>Zotac's ZBox Nano AD10 Plus can be mounted to the back of any VESA-compatible monitor.</strong></p>
<p>A Velcro PC is like a networked media player (e.g., a Roku or WD TV Live) on steroids. Like that class of device, you can connect a Velcro PC to any size display you like—just make sure it delivers video resolution of at least 1920x1080 pixels. Unlike most networked media players, a Velcro PC includes integrated storage, and it will run a full operating system (ranging from almost any Linux distro to any flavor of Windows). And since it's a bona fide PC, online media services such as Hulu can't block it.</p>
<h3>Mini HTPC</h3>
<p>This class of computer is a step up from a Velcro PC in that it comes with an integrated Blu-ray drive. You might think of it as an all-minus-one, because the only thing you need to add is an HDTV (and amplified speakers if you don't want to rely on the tiny speakers inside the TV). Acer builds our favorite machine in this category: The super-thin <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/acer_revo_rl100-ur20p_review" target="_blank">Revo RL100-UR20P</a> comes with a Blu-ray drive and a slick, backlit wireless keyboard/trackpad that's easy to use, even in a darkened room.</p>
<h3>DIY HTPC</h3>
<p>When you know exactly what you want in a computer, there's no better way to get it than to build it yourself. One easy solution is to start with a bare‑bones kit, such as the <a href="http://www.maximumtech.com/asrock-vision-3d-htpc-review" target="_blank">AsRock Vision 3D</a>. This machine includes a Blu-ray drive, an Intel Core i3-370M CPU, and a discrete Nvidia GPU that's sufficiently robust for many newer games. Add Nvidia's 3D Vision kit and hook up a 3D monitor, HDTV, or video projector (our favorite display solution), and you can play games and watch movies in 3D.</p>
<p>If you want to build an all-out home-theater PC that's capable of playing not only Blu-ray movies, but also today's most ambitious games, you can do that, too. We built just such a beast in our December issue, using an Asus Maximum IV Gene-Z motherboard, Intel's Core i5-2500K CPU, and Nvidia's GeForce GTX 560 Ti. Don't have that issue? Just point your browser <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/build_it_first-class_gaming_media_pc_living_room" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<h3>Boutique HTPC</h3>
<p>Want a top-shelf rig for your entertainment center, but don't have time to build your own? That's where boutique PC builders enter the picture. These vendors will start you off with a basic configuration and then let you customize it to fit your precise needs.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u139222/smarttv-cinemagix-big.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u139222/smarttv-cinemagix.jpg" width="620" height="296" /></a></p>
<p><strong>The CineMagix HTPC, from boutique builder Velocity Micro.</strong></p>
<p>Take Velocity Micro's CineMagix Grand Theater Entertainment System, for example. This $1,550 rig includes a full-size ATX motherboard with an Intel Core i5-2300 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 memory, an AMD Radeon HD 5450 videocard, and a digital HDTV tuner. Since these machines are built to order, you can substitute and add components as you see fit.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/everything_you_need_know_about_smart_tv#comments2012amazon instant videoblockbuster on demandcinemanowcracklefebruary 2012Google TVhtpcHuluhulu plusituneslogitech revuemlb.tvnba league passNetFlixnetgear neto tv ntv200RokuSmart TVstreamingvuduwestern digital wd tv liveyahoo connected tvMedia PlayersMedia StreamingFrom the MagazineFeaturesMon, 30 Jan 2012 20:43:37 +0000Michael Brown22422 at http://www.maximumpc.comZotac Zbox HD Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/zotac_zbox_hd_review
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Another option for cable-cutters emerges</h3>
<p>Does the cable-cutter movement have a name yet? Yes, it’s called, “I’m cheap as hell, and I don’t want to pay for your 250 channels of garbage anymore!”</p>
<p>For those cable TV and satellite abandoners, we present to you Zotac’s Zbox HD. Think of it as the ultimate streaming box. OK, we’re exaggerating. It’s not. It’s really just a nifty, stylish PC made by Zotac. But it will certainly give you far more flexibility and options than any streaming box available today. </p>
<p>That’s because as a PC, just about anything you can view in the browser, you can view on the TV. The Zbox HD includes an HDMI port, a DVI port, and optical S/PDIF outputs. In storage I/O you get a gigabit LAN port and—très cool on a HTPC—three USB 3.0 ports, one of which doubles as an eSATA port. There’s a sole USB 2.0 port in front and also a slimline, slot-fed Blu-ray combo drive.</p>
<p><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u127998/zotac-showcasefull.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u127998/zotac-showcase.jpg" width="405" height="251" /></a></p>
<p><strong>With Blu-ray and discrete Ion graphics, the Zbox HD puts dedicated streaming boxes to shame.</strong></p>
<p>The guts of the Zbox HD are moderate. There’s a dual-core 1.8GHz Atom D525 chip, 2GB of RAM, and an Ion graphics chip connected to the Intel NM10 Express chipset. Unlike prebuilt HTPCs from Dell, Polywell, and others, the Zbox HD ships as a DIY kit. It comes with drivers on a disc and an empty hard drive. You bring your own OS to get this mini-HTPC up and running.</p>
<p>Before we go on, we have to say that the world is a different place than it was in June 2010 when we reviewed Dell’s Inspiron Zino. While the Zino could not handle HD Flash content or 1080p QuickTime, that was really the fault of Apple and Adobe. Today, with Flash 10.1’s solid GPU acceleration, it’s a different ball game.</p>
<p>The Zbox HD’s 1.8GHz Atom D525 is, in our opinion, still a marginally weak CPU. The Nvidia Ion chip, however, does much of the lifting in HD content. We were able to watch Flash content in HD without issues. Blu-ray playback, which was problematic on Polywell’s Giada Atom/Ion combo (reviewed in March 2010) also went without a hitch on the Zbox. Even nicer, Zotac includes an OEM version of PowerDVD with Blu-ray support&nbsp; in the box.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u127998/zotac-insidefull.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/files/u127998/zotac-inside.jpg" width="405" height="275" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>The Zotac is still serviceable for its size, and the company uses only one SO-DIMM, so there’s room to add a second module.</strong></p>
<p>Getting an OS onto the machine was a bit of a head-scratcher, though. For our testing, we installed 64-bit Windows 7 Professional. But, with only one standard USB port and no PS/2 ports, we could not run a keyboard and mouse at the same time. To solve that problem we just alternated between mouse and keyboard, plugging in whichever one we needed. Once the OS was up and running, we installed the drivers to enable the USB 3.0 ports in the OS. Also confusing, Zotac includes driver discs for its Ion and non-Ion-based units in the box.</p>
<p>Performance is nothing to write home about. In “gaming” (if you can even use that term for the 8- to 12-year-old benchmarks we ran), the Zbox HD does better than Dell’s Zino. That’s likely due to the Ion’s dedicated memory versus the shared memory used by the Zino’s 780G chipset. In raw computing power, however, the Zbox HD does worse than the Zino. Not terrible, but still slower. In general use, the Zbox HD just feels less responsive. Some of that comes from the 2.5-inch drive the unit uses versus the 7,200rpm desktop drive in the Zino, and the rest is just general Atom suckitude.</p>
<p>Overall, the Zbox HD has some merit. We’re not convinced it’s the perfect solution, as we’d still like something with a bit more x86 heft, perhaps a low-power Sandy Bridge CPU? But the Zbox handles the key needs: Silverlight, Flash, and Blu-ray, with no issues, and that’s more than most streaming boxes can claim.</p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/article/zotac_zbox_hd_review#commentsHardwareHome Theaterhome theater pcmaximum techmedia center2011February 2011HomeMedia PlayersMedia StreamingReviewsFrom the MagazineMon, 24 Jan 2011 20:18:08 +0000Gordon Mah Ung16507 at http://www.maximumpc.comGrace Tuner Wireless Radio and Media Player Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/grace_tuner_wireless_radio_and_media_player_review
<!--paging_filter--><h3>A slightly imperfect mega music machine</h3>
<p>It wasn’t long ago that we turned our critical eye on another recently released Grace Digital Internet radio, the diminutive <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/grace_digital_audio_solo_wifi_receiver_review_0" target="_blank">Solo Wi-Fi Receiver</a>. Although we liked it in a general sense, we found its connectivity somewhat limiting and its controls challenging. We also weren’t sure what it wanted to be: It looked like a bedside radio, but it but needed external amplification and speakers to produce sound. </p>
<p>This time ‘round, we look at the substantially more sophisticated, substantially more focused Grace Tuner Wireless Radio and Media Player (Grace’s model number GDI-IRDT200, which sells for $220). There’s no doubt where this low-slung beast wants to be: Sure, it can be paired with powered speakers and reside virtually anywhere, but it’s most at home in your entertainment center.</p>
<p><a class="thickbox" href="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/1210_reviews/grace_full.jpg"><img src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/1210_reviews/grace_405.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="141" /></a></p>
<p>Just about the size of a modern Blu-ray player and looking all black and sleek, the Grace Tuner clearly has the visual cues of a classic component piece. A subtle component piece. You’ll find just four controls on its faceplate in addition to its power switch. There’s a “previous/play” button, a “mode” button, a “back” button, and a multi-function dial/button for station selection, volume control, and making menu selections. Grace augments these local controls with an infrared remote and the free Grace Digital iPhone App (alas, they show no love for Android).</p>
<p>A large, backlit digital display resides in the center of that faceplate. We like that we can actually read it when we sit off-center, we appreciate that it automatically dims when it isn’t in use, and we think the giant clock that zaps into view when the unit is powered down is pretty cool. Yet with just two active lines of slow-scrolling text and one line of icons at our disposal—versus the four lines Grace advertises—we craved more information more quickly.</p>
<p>We couldn’t possibly, however, hunger for more listening alternatives. The Grace Tuner not only offers tens of thousands of free Internet radio stations, sorted by genre and geographical location, it also delivers podcasts, on-demand radio, and free and paid subscription services from the likes of Pandora, Sirius, and Live365. If you’d prefer to listen to your own library, you can stream audio over your wired or wireless network (although the device exhibited poor wireless range). And unlike the competition offered by Sonos or most of Logitech’s Squeezebox line, you can also plug in an SD card (conveniently in front) or a USB memory device (inconveniently located on the backplane) or even tune to ye olde FM radio. </p>
<p>We did encounter a few odd glitches during our time with the Grace Tuner. At one point, for example, its FM radio section temporarily stopped producing sound. Later, we encountered an “internal error” message that spurred a reboot, and on at least one occasion the display incorrectly told us there was no Internet connection. </p>
<p>We have no complaints about the Grace Tuner’s onboard digital-to-analog converter (DAC), which delivered great sound both when we plugged a set of headphones into its 1/4-inch jack and when we connected its analog output to our Panasonic SA-HE100 A/V receiver. If you have a higher-end outboard DAC, the box is outfitted with coaxial and TOSLink digital outputs.</p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/article/grace_tuner_wireless_radio_and_media_player_review#commentsaudio streamerDACGrace TunerHardwaremaximum techMaximum Tech ReviewsMedia Playermedia streamingnetworkMedia PlayersReviewsMon, 08 Nov 2010 17:20:37 +0000Gord Goble15431 at http://www.maximumpc.comCirgon Encore Multimedia Server Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/cirgon_encore_multimedia_server_review
<!--paging_filter--><h3>A mom-friendly digital entertainment system</h3>
<p>Ripping CDs and DVDs is second nature to a <em>Maximum PC</em> reader. Your entire audio and video library is stored on a server, so you can access it from any of the several PCs in your home. You’ve assembled every photo you’ve ever shot into dazzling digital slide shows with musical soundtracks. When you tire of your own music collection, you have presets for all the best Internet radio stations on your home-theater PC.</p>
<p>Now your less tech-savvy friends and relatives are bugging you to help them set up the same type of entertainment system at their pad. Hmm. Should you a) spend a dozen hours holding their hand while you distill years of experience into private lessons, b) politely tell them to pound sand, or c) recommend they buy <a href="http://www.cirgon.com/">Cirgon</a>’s Encore Multimedia Server?</p>
<p><a class="thickbox" href="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/0910_reviews/encore_full.jpg"><img src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/0910_reviews/encore_405.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="245" /></a><br /><strong>Cirgon's Encore Multimedia Server boots and is ready to play in just 33 seconds.</strong></p>
<p>We suggest you go with the Encore, even if it does fall short of wowing us (there’s a DVD burner where the Blu-ray-read/DVD-write combo drive should be, for starters). The Encore is definitely not designed for power users: It features a single-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom 230, Nvidia’s Ion chipset, and 1GB of DDR2/800 RAM on a Zotac Mini-ITX motherboard. But we like it because its software is as innovative as its hardware is mundane.</p>
<p>The Encore doesn’t run Windows, nor does it run any retail application software. Cirgon tapped Red Hat’s Fedora Linux operating system instead, and developed a custom user interface and a suite of apps that render complex media-oriented tasks extraordinarily simple.</p>
<p>Imagine teaching your mom how to defeat a DVD’s DRM so she can rip it to her computer’s hard drive as an ISO image, preserving its menus, optional soundtracks, subtitles, and all the extras. Don’t forget to tell her about the software needed to mount the image when she wants to watch the movie. The Encore renders all that as simple as dropping the DVD in the tray and pushing a button to rip an ISO. It can rip CDs and encode them to your choice of MP3, FLAC, or WAV just as easily—downloading the correct tags and album art in the process. But with an Internet filled with awesome radio stations, Encore curiously limits you to LastFM. You also can’t access Netflix, Hulu, or even YouTube.</p>
<p>Plug your digital camera into one of the Encore’s USB ports (the machine lacks a memory card reader), press a button on the remote, and it will automatically copy the images to its hard drive and ask if you’d like to make a backup copy on DVD. You can perform rudimentary photo-editing tasks, but you’ll want to use a full-featured program on a PC for anything serious. The slide-show production software, on the other hand, is genius. Adding music to a show is a piece of cake, and you can add narration using an optional USB microphone. On playback, the music automatically fades to the background when your narration begins.</p>
<p>The user interface is not visually sophisticated, relying primarily on text instead of icons, but we had no trouble reading the menus from our couch. Unfortunately, the system responds sluggishly to the infrared remote control; and since there’s no physical keyboard, you’re forced to rely on an onscreen facsimile to perform searches. You can plug in a hardwired keyboard, but Cirgon doesn’t provide drivers for any wireless models.</p>
<p>Fill up the 1TB drive and you can add external storage using one of the Encore’s USB ports, or you can connect it to a server or NAS box via the gigabit Ethernet port. There’s an HDMI port, and analog, optical, and coaxial S/PDIF audio jacks to connect the box to your HDTV or A/V receiver.</p>
<p>As a power user, it’s easy to dismiss the Encore as a simplistic walled garden. Despite the use of an open-source operating system, users will be entirely dependent on Cirgon when it comes to improving and expanding the product’s capabilities. Unlike some other products based on open-source software—<a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/squeezebox_touch_review" target="_blank">Logitech’s Squeezebox</a>, for example—the Encore has not spawned an organic third-party development community; in fact, Cirgon doesn’t even sponsor a user forum.</p>
<p>On the other hand, a media appliance like the Encore could be just the ticket for those folks who covet your digital entertainment system but don’t have the geek skills to build or maintain one like it.</p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/article/cirgon_encore_multimedia_server_review#commentsCirgonEncoreHardwareHardwaremaximum techMaximum Tech Reviewsmedia streamingmultimediareviewsserver2010Media PlayersMedia StreamingOctober 2010ReviewsFrom the MagazineFri, 17 Sep 2010 17:40:38 +0000Michael Brown14305 at http://www.maximumpc.comRoku HD XR Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/roku_hd_xr_review
<!--paging_filter--><div>For a time, Roku was the only game in town when it came to streaming Netflix movies without a PC. That’s probably because development of the device started at Neflix, where Roku founder Anthony Wood toiled for a time as VP of Internet TV.</div>
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<p>The Roku HD XR takes a very different tack to media streaming, in that it accesses Internet content only, unlike the other boxes we tested. It will stream audio and video content from a vast array of free and subscription online services, but it won’t play any of your own content on your TV.</p>
<p>If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you can stream movies on demand from that service. More importantly, you can browse and search through the company’s streaming library. With earlier models, you had to browse with your PC, adding titles to a queue before you could stream to a box such as this.</p>
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<div><a class="thickbox" href="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/maxtech_1010/roku_full.jpg"><img src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/maxtech_1010/roku_405.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="166" /></a><br /><strong>Roku has aggressively sought out deals with a variety of premium content providers—including Major League Baseball—but the company's hardware is all but oblivious to the content you already own.</strong>
<p>Roku maintains an online “channel store” where its customers can choose from dozens of free and subscription streaming services, many of which—including Amazon Video on Demand, Major League Baseball TV, and Ultimate Fighting Championship—are not available on the Seagate, ViewSonic, and Western Digital boxes. A Roku box will stream Pandora Internet radio and photos from your Flickr account, too, but you can’t use it to watch any of those wacky YouTube videos.</p>
<p>The Roku HD XR’s video resolution tops out at 720p. That’s not terrible, but if you don’t have a TV or A/V receiver with a good scaler, you’ll wind up with black borders all around the video. The box does have a built-in wireless networking adapter—an added-cost option on the competition—as well as a 100Mb/s Ethernet port. Roku has developed a very strong user interface, too; its remote control, on the other hand, is extremely basic.</p>
<p>The Roku HD XR is very inexpensive (when you take the integrated Wi-Fi adapter into account), and Roku offers the strongest content lineup (assuming you don’t care about YouTube). But the absence of any means of accessing your own media via either your network or local storage is baffling.</p>
<p><em>This review is part of a Maximum Tech media player roundup which can be found <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/can_media_player_replace_home_theater_pc">here</a>.</em></p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/article/roku_hd_xr_review#commentsHardwareHardwaremaximum techMaximum Tech ReviewsMedia PlayerreviewsRoku HD XRMedia PlayersReviewsThu, 16 Sep 2010 19:19:37 +0000Michael Brown14552 at http://www.maximumpc.comViewSonic NexTV VMP75 Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/viewsonic_nextv_vmp75_review
<!--paging_filter--><p>Given that ViewSonic’s core business revolves around computer monitors and business-oriented video projectors, we weren’t expecting all that much when we unboxed their NexTV VMP75 media streamer. Wow, did we ever underestimate.</p>
<p>Like the Roku, the VMP75 enables you to play any title in Netflix’s streaming library, not just the ones in your queue. But like the Seagate and Western Digital devices, View-Sonic’s outputs video at full 1080p resolution. And like those devices, it plays all your own media, whether it’s stored on a portable hard drive or on another device on your network. The VMP75 doesn’t limit you to USB devices, either, as it has an eSATA port, too.</p>
<p><a class="thickbox" href="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/maxtech_1010/nexttv_full.jpg"><img src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/maxtech_1010/nexttv_405.jpg" alt="" /></a><br /><strong>ViewSonic's VMP75 comes with a fabulous remote, but if it doesn't float your boat, you can plug in a USB keyboard.</strong></p>
<p>The feature that really sets ViewSonic apart from the competition is the inclusion of a full-fledged web browser. The other boxes keep you in a walled garden: You can use only the web services the manufacturers allow, and the user interface for those services is one the manufacturers developed, not the one you’d see on a computer. With the ViewSonic, you can go anywhere you want on the Internet and use whatever services you fancy.</p>
<p>Take YouTube, for instance. Seagate and Western Digital provide lists (Newest, Most Popular, Most Commented, etc.) and thumbnail images linked to videos. ViewSonic’s browser takes you to the YouTube website and delivers the very same experience you’d get if you visited YouTube on a PC. The same goes for Flickr, ShoutCast, and Facebook (although the VMP75 does not support Flash content, including games).</p>
<p>The VMP75’s user interface is vastly superior to the ones on all three of the other products, and it comes with a best-in-class remote control. The remote has dedicated buttons for navigating to your music, video, or digital photo content, displaying DVD menus from ISO images, and more. It also has a D-pad that doubles as a playback controller (play/pause, forward/reverse) when you’re streaming media, and serves as a cursor controller when you’re navigating menus or websites.</p>
<p>The VMP75 supports all the important media file formats and containers. It’s not quite as strong as Western Digital’s product on this count, but it’s much better than Seagate’s (with the exception of MJPEG). This is the streamer we want in our entertainment center.</p>
<p><em>This review is part of a Maximum Tech media player roundup which can be found <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/can_media_player_replace_home_theater_pc">here</a>.</em></p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/article/viewsonic_nextv_vmp75_review#commentsHardwareHardwaremaximum techMaximum Tech ReviewsMedia playersNexTVreviewsviewsonicVMP75Media PlayersReviewsThu, 16 Sep 2010 19:17:23 +0000Michael Brown14555 at http://www.maximumpc.comSeagate GoFlex TV Reviewhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/seagate_goflex_tv_review
<!--paging_filter--><p>The feature that separates Seagate’s GoFlex TV from the competition is its ability to harbor one of Seagate’s own 2.5-inch GoFlex portable SATA hard drives inside the device. What’s that, you say? All your portable hard drives use USB? Not to worry, as the GoFlex TV will host external USB drives, too, much like the media streamers from ViewSonic and Western Digital.</p>
<p>If all you care about is getting your Netflix fix, Roku’s HD XR is your drug (if you can get over its 720p max resolution). The GoFlex TV <em>will</em> stream Netflix movies—and it offers 1080p resolution—but you’ll need to access your account on your PC and add movies to your Play Instantly queue, first. In that regard, it’s the weakest offering in this field. Beyond Netflix, however, Seagate’s box is much stronger than Roku’s: You can view or listen to a variety of content stored either on an external hard drive plugged directly into the GoFlex TV or on a PC, NAS box, or server on your network.</p>
<p><a class="thickbox" href="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/maxtech_1010/goflex_full.jpg"><img src="http://dl.maximumpc.com/galleries/maxtech_1010/goflex_405.jpg" alt="" /></a><br /><strong>Seagate's GoFlex TV is superior to the Roku when it comes to streaming your own content, but it's inferior to the rest of the field on most other counts.</strong></p>
<p>The GoFlex TV supports slightly fewer video codecs and container formats than the Western Digital and ViewSonic devices, but it’s compatible with nearly all the important ones, including the MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and h.264 codecs and the AVI, MKV, and VOB containers. If you’ve taken to ripping your DVD movies and storing them as ISO images on a hard drive or server, the GoFlex TV can mount those images, giving you full access to the DVD menus, chapter-selection tools, subtitles, commentaries, and other special features included on the disc.</p>
<p>The GoFlex TV supports the most common audio file formats—including AAC, MP3, and FLAC—but it excludes some of the more esoteric formats, such as AIFF. It supports all the same digital photo formats as the ViewSonic and Western Digital boxes, and it was the only product in this field to support the MJPEG format that some digital still cameras use to record video.</p>
<p>In addition to Netflix, the GoFlex TV can stream content from YouTube, MediaFly, and Picasa, but it’s dead to Live365 and Pandora. The box supports Flickr, too, but not in the way you might expect: You can view random Flickr photo streams, but you can’t log into your own Flickr account to display your photos.</p>
<p><em>This review is part of a Maximum Tech media player roundup which can be found <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/can_media_player_replace_home_theater_pc">here</a>.</em></p>
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http://www.maximumpc.com/article/seagate_goflex_tv_review#commentsGoFlex TVHardwareHardwaremaximum techMaximum Tech ReviewsMedia playersreviewsseagateMedia PlayersReviewsThu, 16 Sep 2010 19:10:19 +0000Michael Brown14554 at http://www.maximumpc.comZune HDhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/zune_hd
<!--paging_filter--><h3>If at first you don't succeed...</h3><p>Try as it might, Microsoft has never been able to put a dent in Apple's marketshare for portable media players. The previous Zune players were pretty good, and the Zune desktop software finally got there after a few revisions, but neither one had the &quot;wow factor&quot; necessary to pull the masses away from the iPod juggernaut. With the Zune HD (and accompanying Zune 4.0 software), Microsoft has finally delivered the kind of truly exciting device that should make even the most ardent iPod fan take notice. It's sleek, small, thin, and surprisingly light with the rare quality of looking as good as Apple's products without looking just like Apple's products. There are only three buttons: power/sleep on top, a home button beneath the screen on the front, and a &quot;media button&quot; on the upper left edge. </p><div style="text-align: center"><img src="/files/u17625/zune_teaser.jpg" width="405" height="300" /></div><p>It's also the first product to hit the market with Nvidia's Tegra APX 2600 system-on-chip, which packs a pair of ARM11 cores with lots of individual processors for audio and video encoding and decoding, 2D graphics, 3D graphics (with OpenGL ES 2.0 support), etc. This is paired with an 3.3&quot; OLED screen that conforms to the 16:9 ratio of HD movies with a resolution of 480x272 (the same as the PSP, only smaller). The multi-touch display is as accurate and responsive as any we've used, and downright gorgeous. Blacks are perfectly black, colors are bright and vibrant, and there's no smearing or ghosting effect. It's the first mainstream portable with support for HD radio, at a time when many other portable media players aren't even including an FM tuner. You can, as with previous Zunes, tag a radio song and put it in your cart, so you can download it later. With the HD AV dock (sold separately) it can output 720p video to your TV over HDMI, which looks pretty darn great. You can, of course, also play all your music, podcasts, and HD radio through the dock as well. If anything, we could complain that this slick little gizmo is actually too small. With a screen so pretty, you want to something a tad larger to watch movies and play games on.</p><p align="center"><img src="/files/u17625/zune_menu.jpg" width="405" height="220" /> </p><p>This is an impressive and surprisingly energy-efficient hardware package. The specs say 33 hours of music or 8.5 hours of video, but like all battery specs, this is a pipe dream that don't reflect real usage scenarios. Our battery lasted for just over 10 hours of heavy and varied use with Wi-Fi enabled, which is better than most devices of this type.</p><p>If the modern gadget market has taught us anything, it's that the most amazing hardware in the world is useless without a great interface. Fortunately, the Zune developers have hit a home run with the Zune HD's touch UI. The home screen shows a simple list of categories (music, videos, pictures, radio, marketplace, social, podcasts, internet, apps, and settings). Drilling down into each of these is clear and intuitive, with left and right finger-swipes to swap to different categories, and vertical swipes to fly up and down the list of content. Long lists (artists and albums) have an alphabet jump-menu that can take you right to a specific letter. The real magic happens when you tap the left edge of the home screen, swipe to the right, or press the home button to &quot;flip&quot; it over to the Quickplay menu that shows your recent history, new stuff, and &quot;pinned&quot; content. You can pin anything there - apps, podcasts, albums, artists, songs, playlists, even web bookmarks - by holding down your finger on the item and choosing &quot;pin to quickplay.&quot; It's a simple and elegant solution a big problem with mutli-funtion portable devices: getting to your most frequently used stuff quickly. There are a few niggling issues, like a slight inconsistency in the way one backs out of different screens. The &quot;back&quot; arrow present in some places should simply always be there, and always take you back one level.</p><p align="center"><img src="/files/u17625/zune_controls.jpg" width="405" height="344" /> </p><p>The web browser is surprisingly good, too. It's not quite as fast as Safari on the iPhone or iPod Touch, and it doesn't support Flash, but it works great with even complex websites and all the expected zoom and pinch and drag gestures work. It's based on Internet Explorer, but you'd never know it, especially if you're used to the abomination that is IE for Windows Mobile. It's another reason why we find the device perhaps a touch too small; the on-screen keyboard works well, but is a bit cramped when you hold the 16:9 screen vertically. Text scaling could be a little bit smoother, and it would be easier to read some sites on a slightly larger screen.</p><p align="center"><img src="/files/u17625/zune_video.jpg" width="405" height="247" /> </p><p>If you're within range of Wi-Fi, the Zune HD gets a bit more useful. Browse any artist in your music collection and a little down arrow at the bottom of the screen will extend the page with a discography of that artist's work on the marketplace. You can stream or purchase tracks and albums right there on the device. Of course, you can browse the music and apps marketplace in the traditional manner, by choosing &quot;marketplace&quot; from the main menu. Interestingly, the &quot;squirting&quot; function of previous Zune models is now gone. You used to be able to send tracks to any other Zune in physical proximity over Wi-Fi, with the stipulation that they can only listen to it three times without buying it. It its place is perhaps a better feature. You can send what is effectively a link to any artist or album to any Zune Tag or email address you want, wherever they are. If they don't have Zune software or an account, they can listen to a 30-second clip on Zune.net. Still a feather in Zune's cap is Wi-Fi syncing - once you link your Zune to a PC on your home wireless network, you can sync it without cables.</p><p>The Zune desktop software gets a host of refinements and a few extra features in the 4.0 release, too. There's a new Quickplay intro screen that mirrors the functionality on the portable device with pinned content, new stuff, and your recent history. You can choose to go right to your collection, the marketplace, or the social upon launch, if you want. The software now supports Windows 7 features like jumplists and a mouseover taskbar player that has the little heart-rating added. The library and marketplace interfaces have been touched up, and are cleaner and better organized than iTunes 9. The best new feature is something Microsoft calls &quot;Smart DJ.&quot; There's a new Smart DJ icon on every album and artist in your collection or the marketplace. Click this to get a custom playlist of that artist and similar ones. It's a bit like Pandora, only it generates a playlist about 30 items long instead of a continuous stream. Unlike iTunes 9's new Genius Mix feature, it includes both local content and streaming music from the marketplace (you can turn that off if you like). You can even save any Smart DJ mix as a playlist, and then adjust how long it should be (in songs or minutes) and how often (in days) it should be refreshed, if at all. You can then sync these Smart DJ playlists to your Zune device, and it'll be refreshed when you sync.</p><p align="center"><a href="/files/u17625/zune_software.jpg" class="thickbox"><img src="/files/u17625/zune_software_sm.jpg" width="405" height="299" /></a> </p><p>Features like these add tremendous value to the Zune Pass, Microsoft's $15 a month all-you-can-eat music subscription service. Smart DJ is a great way to discover and download new music. Zune Pass subscribers also get unlimited streaming of full songs, not just preview clips, from any web browser on any PC or Mac by going to Zune.net. Yeah, the Zune Pass content is laden with DRM (how else would it expire if you don't renew your subscription?), but they even give you 10 song credits a month you can use to download totally DRM-free MP3s that you'll own forever. The marketplace's tight integration between device, desktop, and web make the Zune Pass a seriously good deal for music fans.</p><p>If there's an Achilles' heel to the Zune HD, it's apps. There are only nine apps in the marketplace, all of them free and seven of them games. They're nothing special, really. You'd have paid a couple bucks for some of them when the iPhone App Store launched, but they pale in comparison to what you can get today. Others are coming this fall, including Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition, Vans SK8: Pool Service, and Audiosurf Tilt in addition to Facebook and Twitter. That's good, but this is a device that desperately needs a real app marketplace. Perhaps it isn't too far away - Microsoft just updated the XNA development framework to version 3.1, adding support for the Zune HD's accelerometer and multi-touch screen.</p><p align="center"><img src="/files/u17625/zune_chess.jpg" width="405" height="270" /> </p><p> So is the Zune HD better than the iPod Touch against which it competes? That all depends on what you're looking for. If you want a portable player primarily for media, the Zune HD trounces the iPod Touch. Music, video, and podcast offerings are similar, but the Zune has FM and HD radio, marginally better sound quality, 720p video output, the optional Zune Pass subscription service for music, and an honest-to-goodness superior interface. The software on both desktop and device is designed to be vastly better for discovering new music. If you want a pocket computer to run apps and play games, with music and video playing as a second-tier function, the incredibly robust App Store on the iPod Touch make it still the obvious choice.</p><p>Microsoft still has work to do, of course. With all that hi-def video and subscription music, we desperately need a 64GB model. The hardware and software service aren't available outside the U.S., and really needs to be expanded internationally. The required Zune software is Windows-only, which leaves Mac users out in the cold, or at the very least requires Boot Camp or virtualization of them. Most of all, a truly robust app marketplace needs to be built, and fast. For those looking to buy a portable media player for, you know, media, the Zune HD is a truly awesome little device. Microsoft has a product that has captured the enthusiasm of gadget geeks across the web, and it doesn't disappoint.</p>http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/zune_hd#commentsHardwareHardwareMedia playersmicrosoftreviewsZunezune hdMedia PlayersReviewsFri, 18 Sep 2009 20:30:40 +0000Jason Cross7944 at http://www.maximumpc.comHaier Rhapsody Ibizahttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/haier_rhapsody_ibiza
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<div style="text-align: center"><img src="/files/u53951/Rhapsody-showcase.gif" width="415" height="355" /></div>
</p><p>When talk turns to digital media players, Apple’s iPod and Microsoft’s second-generation Zune (with its third-gen firmware) dominate the conversation. But if you’re a Rhapsody-to-Go subscriber ($15 per month), there’s only one media player you should consider: Haier’s Rhapsody Ibiza. </p>
<p>The Ibiza is available in three configurations: flash memory models with 4GB and 8GB capacities (priced at $200 and $230, respectively) and the 30GB hard-drive model ($300) reviewed here. All three play videos and display digital photos as well as play music; they also support Bluetooth headphones. </p>
<p>The Ibiza can connect to 802.11g Wi-Fi networks, which means you can stream and download songs from Rhapsody (and listen to Rhapsody’s Internet radio channels) without plugging the player into your PC. Synchronizing the Ibiza to your PC, on the other hand, requires a hard-wired connection. </p>
<p>This device leverages everything that we like about the Rhapsody service. If you’re online while listening to a song, for instance, a menu displayed next to the album art gives you the choice of downloading the track (or the entire album) to the player, purchasing and downloading the song or album to the player, sampling other tracks from the album, or calling up a biography of the artist. Choose “more by this artist” and the player will open a submenu with choices that include an artist sampler, a list of all the albums the artist has recorded, a “top tracks” list, and a list of similar artists. </p>
<p>The Ibiza’s software is excellent—in stark contrast to Rhapsody’s absolutely dreadful PC software—but we do have one complaint: Drill deep down into its nested menus and the only way to get back to the home screen is to repeatedly stab the back button. </p>
<p>“Tethered” tracks, of course, remain available only as long as you maintain your subscription, but we’re disappointed that the player doesn’t inform you whether the tracks you purchase are infested with DRM (Rhapsody sells both encrypted and DRM-free tracks). </p>
<p>The Ibiza is close to being the perfect portable companion for Rhapsody customers, but there’s very little to recommend to folks outside that circle. Its total lack of support for lossless audio codecs, meanwhile, is a major disappointment. </p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/haier_rhapsody_ibiza#commentsHardwaremediamp3 playersmusicrealreviewsRhapsody2008Media PlayersReviewsHoliday 2008From the MagazineTue, 20 Jan 2009 19:30:46 +0000Michael Brown4918 at http://www.maximumpc.comSlacker G2 Personal Radio http://www.maximumpc.com/slacker_g2_personal_radio
<!--paging_filter--><p>Slacker announced a new version of its portable radio today, and we’re happy to say the Slacker G2 kicks just as much ass as the original product <a href="/article/slacker_portable_radio">we reviewed</a> last April. </p>
<p><a href="/files/u5033/SlackerG2_1024.jpg" class="thickbox"><img class="thickbox" src="/files/u5033/SlackerG2_body.jpg" hspace="15" vspace="5" width="145" height="250" align="right" /></a>Here’s Slacker in a nutshell (for those who don’t want to re-read our previous review): The service component of Slacker is much like Pandora or Last.FM in that you can listen to music on the Internet for free (along with an occasional advertisement) while the Slacker A.I. analyzes your expressed tastes in music, and recommends new artists it thinks you’ll enjoy. </p>
<p>But there <em>are </em>trade-offs: You can't always choose which songs you want to hear, and you can skip only a limited number of tracks. Slacker also offers a subscription plan ($7.50 per month if you pay for a year at a time) that eliminates the ads, enables you to call up saved tracks at will (as long as you maintain your subscription), and allows you to skip an unlimited number of tracks. </p>
<p>As for the new Slacker hardware, it has all the same tools as the browser-based product, but gives you the freedom to listen to music anywhere. You can transfer music from your PC to the mobile device, or you can connect the G2 to your wireless network, and it will automatically download a batch of tunes from the Slacker website. </p>
<p>The G2 player also comes with the <a href="/article/slacker_portable_radio">Devicescape</a> application built in. This app enables the G2 to log on to commercial Wi-Fi hot spots -- provided you have an account with the service provider, of course.</p>
<p>The Slacker G2 is about half the size of its predecessor, but the base model comes with twice as much memory (4GB of flash, which is enough to store 25 of the custom radio stations you create with the service; an 8GB model capable of storing 40 stations will sell for $250). More importantly, the G2 doesn’t sacrifice any of the delicious features that made the original portable so cool. </p>
<p>The first-generation device was slightly larger than a cell phone, which meant it just barely fit in a shirt pocket. And while it had a gi-normous display (consuming nearly its entire face), accommodating that huge LCD forced the designers to move all the control buttons to the sides of the player, which rendered it awkward to use with one hand. </p>
<p>The G2’s screen is considerably smaller (2.4 inches compared to the original’s 4.0-inch screen), but it shares the player’s faceplate with all the most important buttons for controlling the device. The “favorite” and “ban” buttons—which allow you to indicate your preference or disdain, respectively, for a particular song—sit above the screen. The skip forward/skip back buttons that enable you to move up and down the tracks stored in your library are at the bottom, along with a play/pause button. The volume control is on top of the device, next to the headphone jack. </p>
<p>The new device retains the ability to display large album-art images and detailed artist bios. And Slacker continues to employ professional deejays to program its radio channels. As with the original device, you can use some of its storage capacity to save your own music in MP3 or WMA format. </p>
<p>In addition to a ubiquitous mini USB port, the G2 has a CEA 2017 docking port on its bottom, although Slacker doesn’t currently have any products capable of mating with it. The Consumer Electronics Association—the group that puts on the annual CES trade show—defined the CEA 2017 standard in the theory that it would foster a market for third-party peripherals (e.g., speaker docks), but the interface been around for more than a year, and this is the first media player we’ve seen that makes use of it. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait for the year 2017 for it to gain traction. </p>
<p>As for the Slacker G2—we dig it! </p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/slacker_g2_personal_radio#commentsconsumer electronicsHardwareHardwareMedia Playermobilemp3slackerMedia PlayersReviewsTue, 16 Sep 2008 22:24:25 +0000Michael Brown3540 at http://www.maximumpc.com